Steam Deck LCD – Internal screen stopped working after shell swap / motherboard removal
Hey everyone! I could really use some help diagnosing an issue with my Steam Deck LCD.
I recently did a full shell swap. After putting everything back together, the Deck booted normally and the internal display, touchscreen and sound were all working perfectly, but none of the controls were working (except Power and Volume).
I opened it again and removed/reconnected the motherboard and ribbon cables to fix the controls. The good news is that all the controls work now, but after doing that, the internal display stopped working.
Current situation:
Steam Deck boots normally
All buttons/controls work
Sound works
HDMI output through a dock works perfectly
SteamOS still detects the internal display
Internal LCD has no picture
Touchscreen also doesn’t work
I’ve already disconnected/reseated the display connectors several times
The internal display was 100% working immediately before I removed/reconnected the motherboard, so I’m wondering if I damaged the LCD ribbon/flex cable while working on it. The shielded display cable was originally pretty firmly stuck down, and after manipulating it several times, some of the adhesive/shielding started coming loose.
Has anyone had the same combination of symptoms? Could a damaged LCD flex cable cause both the image and touchscreen to stop working while SteamOS still detects the internal display?
I’m thinking about replacing the display flex cable before assuming the LCD itself is damaged.
Any advice would be really appreciated! 🙏